Category: Support Pastors

By Erik Cave, Director of NextGen Ministries, PacNWC

Enjoy this interview with Lynette Sanchez, the new Pastor to Children at Countryside Community Church in Sherwood, OR

What is your personal and ministry background?
I grew up in Wisconsin and Illinois as the youngest of three kids and in a family of faith. I have known God’s presence since a young age and have experienced his sustaining grace and love. I met my husband, Jon, on a missions trip to Europe in 2000. We have been married for fifteen years and have three kids: Ari (10), Noa (7), and Ava (4).

I first felt called to ministry while serving as a youth ministry intern in West Des Moines, Iowa. The call for the church to be Christ’s ambassadors to the world and even to reveal God’s wisdom to heavenly beings astounds me. It is a passion for me to guide those in my community to understand this calling and live into it. I have served in youth and children’s ministry for more than fifteen years and now currently serve the children and families at Countryside Community Church in Sherwood, Oregon. Before coming to Countryside, I served as the Pastor to Children at West Hills Covenant in Portland and Associate Children’s Director at Peninsula Covenant in Redwood City, California, where I was first introduced to the Covenant.

What are you passionate about in ministry right now?
My desire for children is that they would develop Scripture as a native language, encounter God in deep ways, and find belonging and love in their church community. This past year has upended so many of the ways we partner with families. After such a difficult year, I’m interested in how I can come alongside families to address the trauma we’ve all experienced and find healing and rest moving forward.

How can we pray for you?
Please pray for wisdom and discernment as I lead in this new call and coming out of a crazy year. Also, as for all parents right now, for rest and restoration for my own soul and spirit after being stretched so thin from the pandemic.

Five Things You Didn’t Know About Lynette:
What’s one thing you couldn’t live without?
As a Sunday School teacher I know the answer is Jesus. But when I’m trying to get my kids off to school early in the morning, the close second is coffee.

What is the one thing you cannot resist?
A chance to bake after finding a new recipe that looks delicious or even a bit of a challenge.

Where is your favorite place to be?
London, England. I lived down the road from Buckingham Palace for a semester in college and absolutely loved being there. I dream of returning since I haven’t been back since!

What is your favorite thing to do?
Read and research. I love every opportunity I get to prepare a sermon, because I can focus and dive deep on a passage then find ways to help others connect with God through it.

What would you do (for a career) if you weren’t doing this?
I have a degree in magazine journalism and had planned to go into publishing before attending seminary. I think I’d be writing or editing and down the road hope to teach at the university level.

[Click Here] to visit Lynette’s Facebook Page

[Click Here] to visit Countryside’s Web Page

By Erik Cave, Director of NextGen Ministries, PacNWC

Enjoy this interview with Andrea Emerson the new Minister of the Word at Access Covenant Church in Portland, OR

What is your personal and ministry background?

I grew up in a multiracial family shaped by my Korean-adoptee father and my white mother. My dad’s biological mom lived through colonization and war and his biological dad was a Jewish-American soldier stationed in Korea with the UN. My mom’s Irish, Scottish, and German family settled in Kansas and Illinois before her parents relocated to Arizona after marrying. Her paternal grandmother was an Apostolic Holiness preacher in Kansas at the turn of the 20^th Century. These are the people I come from and their legacies shape my life and ministry.

I spent most of my career working with college students through InterVarsity. This included work at Arizona State University, Washington University in St. Louis, Oregon State University, and Reed College before I began supervising staff at a regional level in the Northwest. Cross-cultural relationships and a trajectory toward centering the people dominant culture marginalizes have been themes of my ministry journey. I appreciate the way my role at Access continues and expands on that.

What are you passionate about in ministry right now?

I’m so grateful I get to help shape the preaching ministry at Access as we consider how our decolonization process is forming the ways we lead and teach. I’m particularly excited about the opportunity to embody our communal learning through an emerging partnership with Eloheh Indigenous Center for Earth Justice.  Our hope is to serve at Eloheh monthly with other volunteers from Portland-area Covenant churches.

How can we pray for you?

My role with Access is part-time and in the other part of my professional life I work as a leadership and DEI coach and consultant. I live in SE Portland with husband, Ben, and our three kids: Zeke (7.5), Nathan (4.5), and Lydia (2.5). My parents bought the house next door to us last year and we cherish our two-home, three-generation family arrangement. I’d be grateful for your prayers as we navigate marriage, parenting and family dynamics, our respective careers, and being good neighbors.

Five things you didn’t know about Andrea:

What three traits define you? I am known as intellectual, courageous, and goofy. I’m biased, but I think it’s a great combination!  

Where is your favorite place to be? The years I spent living in St. Louis, MO were really formative for me. When I think about the places I love, that city is still at the top of my list. Forest Park and the Washington University campus are particular favorite spots.

Where is the best place you’ve traveled to and why? Ben and I spent a summer in Xi’an when our oldest son, Zeke, was 9 months old. We helped lead a cultural exchange with students from a Chinese university and students from universities across the Pacific Northwest. This opportunity to partner, parent, and lead in a cross-cultural context 24-7 was some of the most fun I’ve ever had. Teaching the cultural exchange classes each morning helped clarify my love of teaching, while pastoring our team through their moments of dissonance and developing long-term relationships with some of the Chinese students, were also deeply meaningful parts of the experience. And please don’t get me started about the food because I’ll start drooling.

How do you define success? I define success as alignment. I think of it as the experiences when who you are and what you bring to the world is matched with an opportunity. My coaching practice with women leaders is focused on supporting them as they discover what alignment means for them and what they want as a result of their clarity. It’s truly a privilege to collaborate with them in that process.

Tell us something that might surprise us about you.  I’m a musician, so I’ve also enjoyed serving on musical worship teams in a variety of settings since high school.I’m a classically trained violinist and pianist, and although I don’t play either as often these days, you will can find me hiding in the back of the 2nd violin section of a local community symphony because I love making music with people.

[Click Here] to visit Andrea’s Facebook Page

[Click Here] to visit the Access Covenant Church’s web page

By Jon Woolner, the new Lead Pastor at Evergreen Covenant Church

Me and my wife, Shannon, recently made the move to Seattle in January 2021. I accepted the invitation from Evergreen Covenant Church on Mercer Island to be their lead pastor. For the past 20 years I have been part of the Pacific Southwest Conference and have served as a church planter in the Los Angeles area and also as a transitional pastor in Northern California. This is new territory for both of us and even though we are surrounded by the immense beauty of the PNW, our hearts are feeling that all to familiar ache of yet another transition in life. Can we do this? How do we cultivate hope among all this uncertainty?

As I step into what, Richard Rohr refers to, as the ‘second half of life,’ I do feel hope that the Spirit has good things ahead. It can be difficult to hold on to a beautiful future when you are in the midst of change. I’ve discovered that we humans would soon rather die than change at times. My brain has often said, ‘enough with the change Jon. Forging new friendships, finding my place in a new context and resisting the urge to go back to what is familiar, feels a bit overwhelming at times.

We are currently living in Seattle, situated in a community called, Columbia City. On my daily drive to and from Evergreen I am faced with some of the broken parts of this city. I remember stepping out onto my front porch back in January and felt the invitation from the Spirit to create a daily practice that would help my heart attach to this new place. Each morning, I step outside and say, ‘good morning Seattle, I love you!’ I do this because I know how easy it is to slide into indifference. Many times the default inside my narrative can be, ‘what does this place has to offer to me?’ I don’t want to just take from Seattle, I want be a life giving presence in this place. I believe God loves and aches for the city of Seattle. I want my heart to be a reflection of that deep compassion.

If we happen to come to your awareness, would you please keep us in your prayers. Even if all you do is to say, ‘Lord today I pray for Jon and Shannon.’ I’ll take it! We are here. Open and ready to receive all that Jesus invites us to participate in.

Doing my best to hold on to all the goodness of God

Jon, Cultivator of Culture and Formation, Evergreen Covenant Church

[Click Here] to visit Jon’s Facebook Page

[Click Here] to visit Evergreen Covenant Church’s Web Page

By Erik Cave, Director of NextGen Ministries, PacNWC

Enjoy this interview with Todd Johnson, the new Lead Pastor of First Covenant Church, Seattle, WA.

What is your personal and ministry background?

I am a life-long Covenanter, born and baptized into Ridgway Covenant Church in Ridgway, Pennsylvania and grew up mostly in Bradford, PA and the Covenant Church there. I was an engineering student at the University of Pittsburgh when my faith was fortified and enriched through the ministry of Coalition for Christian Outreach at Pitt. In a ministry through Coalition with children in the housing projects just beyond our campus I felt called to ministry, particularly inner-city youth and family ministry. I transferred to North Park to complete my bachelors degree and then went on to seminary there. I continued to work with youth and family in Chicago through Young Life and other ministries. Since then I have lived out my call to ministry “in various and sundry ways,” including hospital and police chaplaincy, church ministry, and educational ministry that includes Covenant Bible College, North Park Seminary, and Fuller Theological Seminary. My call to First Covenant Church Seattle allows me to return to my passion for urban ministry in all its delightful complexities.

What are you passionate about in ministry right now?

I am grounded and centered by my family: my wife Susan, and our five adult children, Kyle, Kjerstin, Kate, Kari, and Kelsey. In my first months of virtual ministry, I have begun to know and love my new church family. I look forward to what I pray is a fruitful ministry in my new homes of Seattle and First Covenant Church. I invite prayers that I might be faithful to that end.

Some Things You Didn’t Know About Todd:

What’s one thing you couldn’t live without?

Routine. Each day begins with Morning Prayer, Exercise, Breakfast with a side of an LP and newspaper. This routine may change, but not having a routine.

What is the one thing you cannot resist?

Italian food. My kryptonite.

What is your favorite thing to do?

Anything related to music. Though not a musician, I love listening, attending performances of, and reading about music.

Where is the best place you’ve traveled to and why?

Sweden. Susan I have distant relatives who are now fast friends, and friends we know from the US who live there who remain close.

What has been the most important innovation you have witnessed in your lifetime?  

The microchip. Incredible amounts of work can be done by such a small resource, making so many things not only easily accessible, but portable. It has changed our world.

What is the best book you have ever read?

Not the best book I have ever read, but what I think is the most important book for Americans in this century is THE SACRED SANTA by Dell deChant. It defines our culture as a very religious culture, with its most important rituals and sacred seasons being defined by our religion of consumerism. It lays out the challenges of faith formation we face being immersed in this context 24/7 in very stark terms.

Tell us something that might surprise us about you.  

I live a vowed life, being a member of a religious community for over a quarter of a century.

[Click Here] to visit First Covenant Seattle’s web page

By Erik Cave, Director of NextGen Ministries, PacNWC

Enjoy this interview with Tyson Quibell, the new Executive Pastor at Bread and Wine

What is your personal and ministry background?

I have spent the last 12 years in various ministry roles, including associate pastor and lead church planter in both Portland and Chicago. My wife and I have always been passionate and committed to seeing the Kingdom of God break into the world through the uniting of an unlike people. Over the years, we have been a part of planting and supporting different churches with this mission and vision in mind. Growing up in Canada, I’m highly accustomed to living alongside irreligious neighbors and love engaging those who are disillusioned and skeptical of Christianity.

What are you passionate about in ministry right now?

I’m passionate about seeing people be connected in our “new normal,” and seeing the church be the church in a deep divided world we currently find ourselves in.

How can we pray for you?

For God to use me in this new role to display his kingdom well in an unprecedented time. Also, for my family as we continue to transition to life back in Portland.

Five Things You Didn’t Know About Tyson:

What’s one thing you couldn’t live without?

Coffee. Without question.

What is the greatest challenge you have had to overcome in your life thus far?

Having to stop a church plant I spent a years planning for and moving across the country for a second time due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

What would you do (for a career) if you weren’t doing this?

Teaching, which I also do currently. I teach High School history as well and I absolutely love it.

Where is your favorite place to be?

I love visiting Hood River and the Fruit Loop in the Columbia River Gorge. My family and I spend a lot of time there in the summer in particular.

Tell us something that might surprise us about you.

I’m a huge hockey fan. I was born into a long-line of Toronto Maple Leafs fans, and have continued to pass on the misery of that experience to my children.

[Click Here] to visit Tyson’s Facebook Page

[Click Here] to learn more about Bread and Wine

By Robert Rife

Dear friends, many of you may know me primarily from my role as Worship and Music Minister at Yakima Covenant Church. If not, it’s likely we’ve shared a holy guffaw or two at Midwinter or perhaps online. In any case, I have so many reasons to be a grateful, newly ordained (woot!) co-labourer with you in the Gospel.

For a couple years now, my wife Rae and I have been exploring a renewed call to serve the Lord in Britain. We’ve joined Serve Globally and are eager to serve as the Covenant’s first missionaries to the United Kingdom! Check out this short clip which reveals more of the specifics of that call.

Rae was born in Wales and is still a British citizen. She is a professional cartographer for Graphic Information Systems with Yakima County. She will pursue a similar career in Britain. I’ll build my ministry from wherever she finds work.

We both share a heart for the disenfranchised, especially millennials, and we’re passionate about sharing Jesus in contextual ways. Most of my career has been as worship and retreat leader. My goal is to weave together contemporary liturgies, the arts, and spiritual formation in developing creative ways to reach exvangelicals, the de-churched, and the un-churched.

For more information about us and how you might partner with us in the Gospel, take a look at our most recent newsletter. Our current donor initiative is “Coffee Money Gospel.” We invite you to become a sustaining member of our community by contributing only $21 (or more) per month. Three dollars, seven times a month (or the opposite if you’re given to more uptown drinks) – coffee money! With enough of you joining us, we’ll be there in no time. Then, we’ll share a coffee in your honour!

Email me anytime at robert.rife@covchurch.org. Check out our page on the ECC website. We love you all, and we thank you for your friendship, your laughter, and the many ways you help us love and serve our common Saviour!

By Erik Cave, Director of NextGen Ministries, PacNWC

Enjoy this interview with Phil Rushton, the new Lead Pastor at Bellingham Covenant Church

What is your personal and ministry background?

          I grew up in Abbotsford, BC as the youngest of three. During my middle school years I became heavily involved in a local church and started to sense a call to ministry. I attended Trinity Western University in Langley, BC and received a B.A. in psychology and history. During that time I served as the worship director at Murrayville Community Church, and worked as a support worker for adults with developmental disabilities. I met my wife Julie at Trinity Western. We’ve been married 14 years and have 3 boys – James (8), and twins Nate and Drew (3).

          After finishing my B.A., I went to Regent College in Vancouver, BC and completed my M.Div. From there I took a call at Longview Community Church in Longview, WA as the associate pastor of spiritual formation. LCC is an interdenominational church that was founded back in the 1920’s. I served at LCC for 11 years. While at LCC I completed my D.Min from Fuller Seminary, which was focused in spiritual direction and formation. I met a number of Covenant pastors at Fuller and they introduced me to the ECC. After completing my spiritual direction training I joined the Spiritual Directors Network in the PacNWC and started the Covenant Orientation program. When the position at Bellingham Covenant Church came up I sensed that it might be a good fit. We are grateful for the opportunity to be officially part of the Covenant now and to find a great church family here in the Pacific North West. Both my wife and I have family in the area.

What are you passionate about in ministry right now?

          I am passionate about the ministry of preaching, teaching, pastoral care, and spiritual formation. I am excited to help lead people beyond information into a transformational relationship with God. Theologian Karl Rahner says, “Knowing God is more important than knowing about God.” That sums up the journey I’ve been on personally over the past few years. My doctoral dissertation focused on creating a spiritual formation process based on the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises. Through that experience, I have enjoyed finding ways to help people not simply understand the scriptures intellectually, but encounter them experientially.

How can we pray for you?

          I have read a few books on how to start a new call as a pastor, but there are not a lot of books about how to do this during a global pandemic! Pray that I will continue to find ways to connect and develop meaningful relationships with my new congregation here in Bellingham. Pray also that God would lead us to the right house in this crazy housing market. We are grateful to have the chance to stay with my wife’s family for the interim time, but are hoping to find our own place soon!

Five things you didn’t know about Phil:

What is the greatest challenge you have had to overcome in your life thus far?

Surviving the first 7 months with twin babies while writing a doctoral dissertation was probably one of the hardest seasons we’ve had! We also had a hard season when our first son James was born with a severe congenital heart defect and had to have open heart surgery as a baby.

What is your favorite thing to do?

I love to be out in nature running, mountain biking, or snowboarding.

What’s the weirdest job you’ve ever had?

My friend had a connection with a movie producer in Vancouver and I got to be an extra on the movie “The Five People You Meet In Heaven,” staring John Voigt. If you pause the movie at just the right spot and have a zoom feature on your DVD player you can see the back of my head!

What would you do (for a career) if you weren’t doing this?

I almost became a therapist instead of a pastor. If I wasn’t a pastor I would probably be doing something like therapy or social work.

What are your three most overused words/phrases?

As a spiritual director I use the phrases, “I wonder,” “I notice,” and “I sense and invitation to . . .”  a lot. It is creeping into my preaching as well.

[Click Here] to see Phil’s Facebook Page

[Click Here] to visit Bellingham Covenant’s web page

By Erik Cave, Director of NextGen Ministries, PacNWC

Enjoy this interview with Magdiel Figueroa the new Lead Pastor at Iglesia Esperanza Viva in Kent Washington

What is your personal and ministry background?

In my personal life I have seen how God takes cares of my life. I got married very young and I have learned how to maintain a solid and strong family. Over 20 years ago God change my life, but in the process I have learned how to pick my self up from the falls. God had let be part of so many ministry close to the pastors in different times of my life. I have been in different leaderships at church and God had blessed me and support me in my ministry.

What are you passionate about in ministry right now?

Interacting with everyone. Being able to know people and what they are passionate about and also what they need.

How can we pray for you?

For my family and my ministry.

Seven things you didn’t know about Magdiel:

1. Tell us something that might surprise us about you.  

Something that might surprise you guys is that in 2012 I was shot at inside of a car where one of the bullets hit me in my arm, and today I am able to use my arm just fine without any difficulties. In 2017 I was bite on my finger by one of the most poisonous snake in North Carolina, and I was hospitalized for three days.

2. What three traits define you? 

Three traits that define me are charismatic, sensitive, and responsible

3. What does true leadership mean to you?

What true leadership means to me is turn yourself in to God, trust, honestly, and humility.

4. What is your favorite thing to do?

One of my favorite things to do is spend time with my family.

5. Where is your favorite place to be?

My favorite place to be is my room because is where I pray, and study and also where I rest.

[Click Here] to visit Magdiel’s Facebook Page

[Click Here] to visit Iglesia Esparanza Viva’s web page

By Erik Cave, Director of NextGen Ministries, PacNWC

Enjoy this interview with Dr. Ben Emmons, the new Co Pastor at Crossroads Community Covenant Church in Yelm, Washington

What is your personal and ministry background?

I’ve served at a pastor for over 20 years. I’ve been involved in just about every kind of pastoral role. I’ve served as a children, family, young adults, discipleship, associate, and lead pastor.

What are you passionate about in ministry right now?

I am passionate about seeing people get healthy. Obviously, health starts with our spiritual health, but I believe God is interested in our holistic health (including but not limited to our body, soul, and mind), which I believe is why He gave us much of the Mosaic Law. I love helping other pastors regain their physical health through education, nutrition, and recreation.

How can we pray for you?

Continued wisdom for the transition and energy to unpack everything…

Seven things you didn’t know about Ben:

1.  Where is your favorite place to be?

Anywhere with my family, especially home.

2.  Where is the best place you’ve traveled to and why?

Israel. The Bible just comes to life when you experience it first-hand. The stories Jesus told and even His life became real.

3.  What does true leadership mean to you?

Serving.

4.  Which one would you want most – flying cars, robot housekeepers, or moon cities?

Moon cities, because if we are building in outer space, chances are pretty high that we have flying cars with robot housekeepers already. I think the Jetson’s taught us this is true…

5.  What would you do (for a career) if you weren’t doing this?

Health and fitness coaching or possibly teaching.

6.  How do you define success?

Success is when I can introduce anyone to Jesus. Beyond that, I’d say discipleship is the definition of success.

7.  Tell us something that might surprise us about you.

My life has been pretty paradoxical. I’ve run more than 20 marathons, but use to weigh 321+ pounds.  I failed second grade, but went on to earn two masters degrees and a doctorate. I’m a huge nerd, but my wife is the most amazing person I’ve ever known.

[Click Here] to see Ben’s video testimony

[Click Here] to visit Ben’s Facebook Page

[Click Here] to visit Crossroad Community Covenant’s web page